15-month-old toddler raped in south Delhi, 1 held

A fifteen-month-old toddler was allegedly raped by unknown person(s) at a servants’ quarter in south Delhi’s Shankar Vihar, a residential complex for serving defence officers, on Friday evening.

Police said the child was alone in the servants’ quarter of a house allotted to a senior Indian Air Force (IAF) officer when the incident took place. They have launched a probe and suspect the involvement someone known to the girl’s family.

Sources in Delhi police said preliminary investigations suggested that the child was raped by at least two persons. Senior police officers, however, chose to remain tightlipped and said the exact details will be clear only after the medical examination of the toddler.

Source also said two persons, including a juvenile, were picked up for questioning by the police, who later formally arrested one of them — identified as 30-year-old Jagdish, a resident of Bihar’s Bareilly.

The juvenile is said to be the cousin of the girl while Jagdish worked at the house of the senior IAF officer. Police said the accused entered the house from the rear door, as the front entry had been locked by the girl’s mother when she was going out.

The matter, a police officer said, came to light around 5.15pm on Friday when the victim’s mother returned home after work and found her daughter bleeding from her private parts. The woman works as a domestic help, while her husband is a sanitation employee in the Shankar Vihar residential colony.

“The girl’s father has a habit of drinking alcohol. At the time of crime, he was out with his friends drinking. The mother left home for work around 4pm after locking her daughter alone in the servants’ quarter. She returned home around 5.15pm and found her daughter screaming and bleeding,” the officer said, adding the woman immediately informed her husband, who in turn informed the police about the crime.

A police team reached the spot and rushed the baby girl to a nearby government hospital. The girl’s condition was stated to be stable and out of danger.

The preliminary medical examination report of the child confirmed sexual assault. A case has been registered against unknown person(s) at the Vasant Vihar police station.